Vanessa Morales

Vanessa Morales is a Mexican illustrator and character designer/concept artist with a deep love for nature and fantasy, as well as all things whimsical and authentic representation of cultures. Vanessa paints in traditional techniques with gauache, watercolor and multi-media. has illustrated several fun picture books: Monster Baker written by Laura Lavoie (Roaring Brook Press), Diego Fuego: The Firefighting Dragon by Allison and Rafael Rozo (Penguin), Axl the Axolotl Is Not a Frog (Penguin, coming April 2026), and Lowrider for Sale (Disney, coming September 2026).

Vanessa also enjoys illustrating middle grade book covers, including The Girl and the Robot by Oz Rodriguez & Claribel Ortega, the Legendarios chapter book series by Karla Arenas Valenti, the Paola Santiago middle grade series by Tehlor Kay Mejia, and the Omega Morales series by Laekan Zea Kemp. 

A graduate in graphic design with  Illustration specialization, Vanessa is now a freelance illustrator. In addition to working with on book projects, she has also worked in Animation creating concept art and costume design for companies including Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Cartoon Network, Kodansha  Japan, Plaidhat Games, Dreamworks TV, and OddBot.

Download Vanessa Morales Lookbook page

To see more of Vanessa’s colorful work, visit her website phonemova.com and follow her on Instagram @phonemova